Saturday, January 23, 2010

My sewing machine went kaput on me right after Christmas. I went back and forth for a few weeks about what sewing machine to get to replace it, do I go with a computerized machine with more stitches than I could ever use and lots of convenience items, like needle up/down, thread cutter button, etc. OR do I choose a vintage all metal machine that will last forever and I could do all the maintenance myself? It was a hard choice and I eventually chose a new Brother sewing machine that can do EVERYTHING. There is no way I will grow out of this machine. BUT the antique Singers were calling to me..., but that is a story for another post. Anyway, I've been doing a lot of sewing to try out my new machine and get to know it. We had a rocky start, but I'm really starting to like her and those convenience features are AWESOME.

One of my first projects was a receiving blanket and bib set for a friend who is having twin boys. It's not very exciting, but I got to try out a few of my new decorative stitches.

I made some down and dirty play curtains for the kids. These curtains can be taken anywhere and used to cover doors or hallways to make new rooms or give "privacy" (a newly important thing to Jovi) or be the bottom of a puppet show or, well, you get the idea. I didn't spend more than 30 minutes from cut to finish, eyeballing most measurements and unfortunately it shows because one curtain is 1 inch longer than the other. It is a good thing they are play curtains.

On Sunday I finished a dress for Jovi that I had cut out in September, crazy I know. It only took like 3 hours (with lots of breaks) to put it together. I don't know why I waited so long to sew it. It is the Farbemix Cara pattern and one of my favorite jumper dress patterns. After the first picture, I was trying to be a good photographer and use natural lighting, but my model was not facing the right way so I got lots of squinting, oops.Here is a close up of the elephant embroidery, you can get it at sewingforsarahembroidery.com. She is an extremely talented digitizer and I love so many of her patterns, but her website organization is terrible. If you have an embroidery machine and a little patience to look through all her many, many pages of designs you can find some amazing ones.

And here is a picture of Corbin in his Sunday clothes just because he is so cute! That is his "cheese" face.

Thanks for visiting my site. I'm working on a cool giveaway so please check back in the next couple of weeks :).

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

A week ago today, on January 13th, my baby turned two. It's hard to believe it's been two years. We started the day out with his mom and dad presents. I made him a 2 year old shirt and crown the night before while Juan put together his workbench.Corbin and Jovi both enjoyed it when they woke up in the morning.

That evening we went to Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate. We were Joined by my mom, dad and sister, Laura. Everyone had a lot of fun, but the kids are both afraid of the guy in the Chuck E Cheese suit. They hid out at our table till he left.

Corbin is SO two. He must have read a book on two year olds and decided to be a text book case. He gets into everything, EVERYTHING. Last Sunday got to call poison control for the first time ever. Corbin found some cleaner at the back of our bathroom cabinet that Juan and I didn't even remember was there, sat down with it and started trying to spray it in his mouth. I caught him before he sprayed it more than three times. He got very upset when I washed his mouth out. He seemed fine, but I called poison control just in case, they assured me he would be fine. Corbin also likes to talk, a lot. He loves his sister Jovi and wants to do everything she does. They play very well together most of the time. Corbin loves robots, dinosaurs, chap stick, bugs, trains, cars and dolls. He has started throwing tantrums which are usually pretty funny and he doesn't follow the "draw only on paper" rule like Jovi always did so I have to sit right with him when he draws. Corbin is very loving and cuddly, but doesn't like to give kisses. He likes reading books and some of his current favorites are Guess How Much I Love You (bunny book), Good Night Moon (night, night moon) and a Wall-e book we picked up at Half Price Books. He loves to get tickled (kickled) and is lots of fun to play with if you have time after cleaning up all the messes he makes. Corbin is a wonderful little boy and we are so happy he is part of our family.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

I bought a bunch of Scholastic books through Jovi's preschool a few months back and put them away. I give them out for treats and surprises. Last week Jovi got a book for waking up dry 4 days in a row (she still struggle with nightime training). I gave her Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney. It is my new favorite book. I totally identify with llama mama and we have nightly llama drama at our house thanks to our terrible sleeper Corbin. If you haven't read it, especially for those of you who have kids who are hard to get to sleep, I highly reccomend this book. Oh, Jovi and Corbin like it too.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

But before we could go out and enjoy the snow, there were Santa presents to enjoy. Jovi got a scooter and Corbin got a Tonka car garage. They both got lots of bath items in their stockings. They each got a pez despenser. Corbin got a dinosaur one which he uses to go arround and attack people with. It's very funny as long as you aren't the one being attacked, then it kinda hurts.

After breakfast and letting the roads melt a bit we went to vist Juan's family. His mom had made a wonderful Christmas lunch and you could choose, classic style with turkey or alternative style with caldo, it was all yummy. Jovi and Corbin got some cute clothes and fun toys. Ruben's family got a PS3 with Band Hero which we ended up playing all afernoon. It was alot of fun. The first picture is of Corbin with a grandma kiss on his forhead.

The Flores family had a great holiday season I hope all our friends, family and blog readers did to. Thank you for letting me share.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

We have had a busy winter break. We got to see lots of family and friends and had a busy fun time. On Christmas eve we went over to my parents' house in the snow, real snow. For me, a native Texan the snow was the most exciting part of Christmas eve. Before we finished making Christmas dinner, this is what it looked like outside.

After dinner my dad told the Christmas story while Jovi and Corbin acted out Mary and Joseph. Corbin stayed Joseph for about 2 minutes, long enough to take a picture. Jovi, on the other hand, got really into it. She was a great Mary and very serious about her part. It was so sweet.

I made a lot of pajama pants this year. I was able to get a really great deal on on a king sized flannel sheet set and there is a lot of fabric in a king sized sheet set. I used my normal kid pattern, one of my favorites you can find here. I bought the adult version, found here, to make the adult pants. It, unfortunately, will not be one of my favorites. The pattern works well for anyone who is skinny with very little butt, but is not a pattern for people with curves. It also runs a bit small. The first pair I made Juan didn't fit him well and the pair I made myself were a little tight, I made some for Laura and at least they fit well. I made a new pair for Juan on Christmas eve morning, I wore his and I gave mine to Laura who then lent them to Emma.

Even though I made Jovi a pair of pants I also made her a skirt out of one of the pillowcases. It was the easiest skirt ever. I cut the length I wanted, added elastic to the cut edge and used the pillowcase edge as the hem. I foresee a new skirt for her every Christmas. I showed her both in the morning and, of course, she wanted to wear the skirt over the pants. Here is our matching Christmas pants picture.

We had lots of fun opening presents. I made Juan, Jovi and Corbin super capes. It's something they've been wanting for a while now. I didn't use a pattern, I just cut a half circle and serged it . I did learn that I don't like sewing cheap satin, it stretches in weird ways, but I was happy with how the capes turned out, and, more importantly, so were they.

I also made Corbin a little boy doll with matching pajama pants for Corbin in a robot print using this pattern. Overall, I liked the pattern. It is the perfect size for toddlers, but the arms and legs are so skinny that they take forever to stuff. I love how the embroidered face looks. He was named Barney by Jovi and Corbin loves him. He has joined one of the three lovies Corbin sleeps with every night (bottom picture). It is so cute to see him fall asleep hugging all his lovies at the same time.

The kids also got several other presents including a soccer goal and soccer balls, a mister potato head for Corbin, a doll formerly known as baby Jesus in our nativity reenactment and now known as Ariel and some books along with some other stuff. Everyone likes buying stuff for our kids. It was a very fun evening and then we had an exciting drive back home in the SNOW.